Stacked gate flash memory device and method of fabricating the same
A stacked gate flash memory device and method of fabricating the same. A cell of the stacked gate flash memory device in accordance with the invention is disposed in a cell trench within a substrate to achieve higher integration of memory cells.
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This patent application is a divisional application of U.S. Ser. No. 10/621,431, filed on Jul. 16, 2003 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,781,191, which claims priority to Taiwanese Application No. 91124264, filed on Oct. 21, 2002.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and method of fabricating the same. More particularly, it relates to a stacked gate flash memory device that can achieve high memory cell capacity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) memory is generally categorized into two groups: random access memory (RAM) and read only memory (ROM). RAM is a volatile memory, wherein the stored data is erased when power is turned off. On the contrary, turning off power does not affect the stored data in a ROM.
In the past few years, market share of ROM has been continuously expanding, and the type attracting the most attention has been flash memory. The fact that a single memory cell is electrically programmable and multiple memory cell blocks are electrically erasable allows flexible and convenient application, superior to electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) and programmable read only memory (PROM). Furthermore, fabricating flash memory is cost effective. Having the above advantages, flash memory has been widely applied in consumer electronic products, such as digital cameras, digital video cameras, mobile phones, notebooks, personal stereos and personal digital assistants (PDA).
Since portability of these electrical consumer products is strongly prioritized by consumers, the size of the products must be minimal. As a result, capacity of flash memory must increase, and functions must be maximized while size thereof is continuously minimized. Having an increased amount of access data, capacity of memory cells has been enhanced from 4 to 256 MB, and even 1G byte will become the market trend in the near future.
Hence, there is a need for a flash memory device with high memory cell capacity.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a stacked gate flash memory device that can achieve high integration of memory cells thereof.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method of fabricating a stacked gate flash memory device, wherein the size of memory cells thereof can be reduced and the coupling ratio of the control gate to the floating gate can be also increased.
Moreover, the invention provides a method of fabricating a stacked gate flash memory device, wherein the driving currents thereof can be increased without increasing the surface size thereof.
Thus, a stacked gate flash memory cell in accordance with the present invention comprises a substrate having a trench therein. A conductive layer is disposed on the bottom of the trench. A pair of source regions are each respectively disposed in the substrate adjacent one sidewall of the trench and electrically connected by the conductive layer. A source isolation layer is disposed on the conductive layer. A pair of tunnel oxide layers are each respectively disposed on one sidewall of the trench and the source isolation layer. A U-shaped floating gate is disposed on the source isolation layer, and connects the tunnel oxide layers thereby. A pair of control gate spacers are each respectively disposed on each vertical portion of the U-shaped floating gate, substantially having the same width as the vertical portions. A U-shaped inter-gate dielectric layer is disposed on the U-shaped floating gate and the control gate spacers. A control gate is disposed in the U-shaped inter-gate dielectric and a drain region is disposed in the substrate adjacent to the trench.
Furthermore, the method of fabricating the stacked gate flash memory cell in accordance with the present invention comprises providing a substrate, forming a plurality of parallel long trenches along a first direction in the substrate, forming a conductive layer and a pair of source regions on the bottom of each long trench, wherein the source regions are respectively disposed in the substrate adjacent to two sidewalls of each long trench and electrically connected by the conductive layer therein, forming a source isolation layer on each conductive layer, forming a tunnel oxide on two sidewalls of each long trench, forming a U-shaped floating gate on each source isolation layer, contacting the tunneling oxide layers, forming a pair of control gate spacers respectively, disposed on the vertical portion of the U-shaped floating gate, substantially having the same width as the vertical portions, forming an U-shaped inter-gate dielectric layer on each U-shaped floating gate and the control gate spacers, forming a control gate in each U-shaped inter-gate dielectric layer, forming a plurality of parallel shallow trench isolation (STI) regions along a second direction, defining a plurality of cell trenches and forming a drain region in the substrate adjacent to each cell trench.
In the present invention, the trench-type stacked gate flash memory device disposed in cell trenches within a substrate can achieve higher integration of memory cell capacity than that in the Prior Art.
In addition, most of the fabricating processes in the invention are self-aligned and additional lithography processes and number of masks for the whole fabricating process can be reduced. The complexity of fabrication is reduced and can be easily achieved. The higher coupling ratio by the memory cells also provides a lower operating voltage thereof.
Furthermore, most patterns of the masks for fabricating the stacked gate flash memory device are rectangular and can be easily fabricated. The costs of mask fabrication can be reduced and resolution limitations by the photolithography tools can be reduced.
A detailed description is given in the following embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The present invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The present invention provides a stacked gate flash memory device that meets the demand for increased capacity of memory cells. In
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Compared with flash memory cell of the Prior Art, the present invention has the following advantages.
First, cells of the flash memory device in accordance with the invention are trench-type stacked gate flash memory devices disposed in cell trenches within a substrate rather than that normally disposed on the surface of a substrate in the Prior Art. Memory cell design of the invention can achieve higher integration of memory cell capacity than that in the Prior Art.
In addition, most of the fabricating processes in the invention are self-aligned. Thus, additional lithography processes and number of masks for the whole fabricating process can be reduced. The complexity of fabricating the Stacked GATE flash memory device of the present invention is reduced and can be easily achieved.
Second, cells of the stacked gate flash memory device of the present invention are formed into the substrate. Thus, the size of each flash memory cell can be minimized and the integration of the memory cell can be increased. Thus the capacity of a flash memory device can be increased and the current within a cell can also be increased by enlarging the depth of the cell trench. Furthermore, most patterns of the masks for fabricating the stacked gate flash memory device are rectangular and can be easily fabricated. The costs of mask fabrication can be reduced and resolution limitations by the photolithography tools can be reduced.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements (as would be apparent to those skilled in the art). Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.
Claims
1. A method of fabricating stacked gate flash memory cells, comprising:
- providing a substrate;
- forming a plurality of parallel long trenches along a first direction in the substrate;
- forming a conductive layer and a pair of source regions on the bottom of each of the long trenches, wherein the source regions are respectively disposed in the substrate adjacent to two sidewalls of each of the long trenches and electrically connected by the conductive layer therein;
- forming a source isolation layer on the conductive layer;
- forming a tunnel oxide on two sidewalls of each of the long trenches;
- forming a U-shaped floating gate on the source isolation layer, contacting the tunnel oxide;
- forming a pair of control gate spacers respectively disposed on the vertical portion of the U-shaped floating gate, substantially having the same width as the vertical portion;
- forming a U-shaped inter-gate dielectric layer on the U-shaped floating gate and the control gate spacers;
- forming a control gate on the U-shaped inter-gate dielectric layer;
- forming a plurality of parallel shallow trench isolation (STI) regions along a second direction, thereby defining a plurality of cell trenches; and
- forming a drain region in the substrate adjacent to each of the cell trenches.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first direction is perpendicular to the second direction.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the substrate is P-type silicon substrate.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising before forming the plurality of parallel long trenches along the first direction in the substrate, sequentially forming a pad oxide layer and a mask layer on the substrate.
5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the mask layer is silicon nitride.
6. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the pad oxide layer is silicon dioxide.
7. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising before forming the conductive layer and the pair of source regions on the bottom of each of the long trenches, forming a bottom insulating layer on the bottom of each of the long trenches.
8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein forming the conductive layer and the pair of source regions on the bottom of each of the long trenchs further comprises:
- forming a source material layer on the bottom of each of the long trenches;
- performing a thermal annealing process on the source material layer, driving out dopants therefrom, forming the pair of source regions in the substrate adjacent to two sidewalls of each of the long trenches, electrically connected by the conductive layer therebetween; and
- removing the source material layer from each of the long trenches.
9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the source material layer is N-type doped polysilicon.
10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the N-type doped polysilicon is selected from the group consisting of phosphorous (P) doped polysilicon and arsenic (As) doped polysilicon.
11. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising before forming the tunnel oxide on the two sidewalls of each of the long trench, performing a threshold voltage implantation on the sidewalls of each of the long trenches.
12. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein forming the U-shaped floating gate on the source isolation layer, contacting the tunnel oxide further comprises:
- conformably depositing a floating gate layer in each of the long trenchs;
- forming a protective layer on the floating gate layer in each of the long trenches exposing portions of the floating gate layer; and
- removing portions of the floating gate layer exposed by the protective layer, thereby forming the U-shaped floating gate.
13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the protective layer is boro-silicate-glass (BSG).
14. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein forming the pair of control gate spacers, each disposed on the vertical portion of the U-shaped floating gate, having the same width as the vertical portions further comprises:
- filling a space within the U-shaped floating gate by a protective layer;
- conformably depositing material of a control gate spacer layer in each of the long trenches;
- etching the materials of the control gate spacer layer, stopping at the protective layer in each of the long trenches, forming a control gate spacer disposed on each vertical portion of the U-shaped floating gate, substantially having a same width as that thereof; and
- removing the protective layer therein.
15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the method for removing the protective layer is wet etching.
16. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the control gate spacer is silicon dioxide.
17. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein forming a plurality of parallel shallow trench isolation (STI) regions along a second direction, defining a plurality of cell trenches, further comprises:
- sequentially performing photolithography and etching, defining a plurality of parallel long isolation trenches along a second direction, stopping at the source isolation layer therein; and
- forming an insulating layer in each of the long isolation trenches.
18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the insulating layer is silicon dioxide.
19. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the method of forming the insulating layer is high density plasma enhanced chemically vaporization deposition (HDP CVD).
20. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein forming the drain region in the substrate adjacent to each of the cell trenches further comprises:
- removing the mask layer, exposing the pad oxide layer;
- performing a drain implantation;
- performing a thermal annealing process, forming the drain region in the substrate adjacent each of the cell trenches; removing the pad oxide layer; and
- forming a second insulating layer on the drain region.
21. The method as claimed in claim 20, wherein impurities used in the drain region implantation are N-type impurities.
22. The method as claimed in claim 21, wherein the N-type impurities are selected from the group consisting of phosphorous (P) ions and arsenic (As) ions.
23. The method as claimed in claim 20, wherein the method for forming the second insulating layer is low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD).
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Type: Grant
Filed: Apr 6, 2004
Date of Patent: Jun 6, 2006
Patent Publication Number: 20040188751
Assignee: Nanya Technology Corporation (Taoyuan)
Inventor: Chi-Hui Lin (Taipei)
Primary Examiner: Brook Kebede
Attorney: Ladas & Parry LLP
Application Number: 10/819,464
International Classification: H01L 21/336 (20060101);